WELCOME TO POLITICO PRO’s Morning Health Care: Happy Belgian Independence day, and I hope you’re reading this hours after it arrives in your mailbox. Thanks to Ellis Kim and Peter O’Donnell for help.

On this day in 1925, the so-called “Monkey Trial” ended in Dayton, Tennessee, where John Scopes was convicted of violating state law for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution. That conviction was later overturned. h/t New York Times

— WHAT’S HAPPENING

ALCOHOL CHAT: A day after Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis took alcohol lobbyists to task for skirting nutritional labeling, council experts in the public health working party met Friday, where one participant said member states are “very united” on the Luxembourg presidency’s text pushing the Commission to get tougher on preventing health harms from alcohol.

Though much more general than the Parliament’s resolution on the topic, which took on hot-bottom issues like labeling and taxing, the text follows an agreement by health ministers in Riga on the need for a common EU alcohol policy.

Next up before the break: the working party on pharmaceuticals looks Wednesday at the new proposed medical devices rules.

CSL BUY OF NOVARTIS’ FLU VAX BUSINESS CLEARS EU: The Commission cleared Australian-based CSL’s acquisition of Novartis’ influenza vaccines business, it announced on Monday. Although there is overlap between the two with seasonal flu vaccines, “the Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would not raise competition concerns, because the combined market shares of the parties will remain moderate and strong competitors will remain active in the market after the merger.”

The companies announced the proposed $275 million (€250 million) merger last year, as Novartis aims to focus on its best-selling products and CSL becomes a global player in flu vaccines.

A ‘HIGH END’ VACCINE: The FT looks at Sanofi’s dengue fever vaccine, which could make money in middle-income countries that suffer from the mosquito-transmitted tropical disease that can be fatal. http://on.ft.com/1GvQfLk

— JOB HUNTERS: The U.K. Secretary of State for Health is seeking to appoint eight members of the British Pharmacopoeia Commission, which is responsible for preparing new editions of the British Pharmacopoeia, the British Pharmacopoeia (Veterinary) and the British Approved Names publication.http://bit.ly/1KgwEUv

KIDNEY CANCER DRUG HOPE: Bristol-Myers Squib said a late-stage trial of its kidney cancer drug, Opdivo, was stopped early after the immunotherapy was found to be effective in patients with the most common form of the cancer, according to Reuters. An independent data panel found the drug had a survival benefit over the cancer drug, everolimus, the U.S. drugmaker said. http://reut.rs/1MD8rYP

IS MEDICAL MARIJUANA REALLY ‘MEDICAL?’ A pediatrician looks at a recent compilation of studies in the New York Times. http://nyti.ms/1HEDimA

– CAPITAL NEWS

FRANCE PUSHES CIGARETTE PLAIN PACKAGING: Representatives from ten countries, led by French health minister Marisol Touraine, presented a united front against tobacco on Monday as they pushed for the adoption of plain cigarette packaging. Standardizing cigarette packs’ sizes, colors, and images, they say, will diminish the attractiveness to youngsters. Those at the meeting include Australia, which introduced plain packs last year, and Britain and France, which will start enforcing them next year on. More, from Le Monde in French: http://bit.ly/1IeYCm8

WHEELCHAIR USERS TAKE ON THE NHS: The NHS is taking fire for “failing” to adequately serve wheelchair users, the BBC reports, as the U.K.’s Wheelchair Leadership Alliance and famed Para-Olympian Tanni Grey-Thompson put out a 10-point campaign urging better NHS wheelchair service: http://bbc.in/1fhEBxX

ORGAN DONATION RATES FALL IN ENGLAND: Fewer organ transplants are occurring in the U.K., the NHS warned Monday, reporting a 3 percent drop in organ donations this year, the first of its kind in a decade. Most troubling: there was a 12 percent fall in heart and lung transplants. More, from the Guardian: http://bit.ly/1gK6Zd9

— ON THE AGENDA

Thursday

The EMA announces the opinion adopted by its Pediatric Committee revising the current list of class waivers for medicines for which no pediatric investigation plan is required.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: The Commission is organizing a second conference on European Reference Networks October 8 through 9, hosted by the public health ministry in Lisbon, Portugal. Who’s going? Government, private sector, experts and other decision-makers. More here: http://bit.ly/1EhkZPf